Research at the Department of Finnish History

The interdisciplinary project, funded by the Kone Foundation in 2021–2024, combining Finnish history and Social work research, will produce new information about the consequences of social crises on the lives of poor and disadvantaged children and young people with a long-term perspective from the 19th century to present. The project provides information, on the one hand, about how everyday poverty experiences differ from one era and crisis to another, and on the other hand, what is the same about poverty experiences as a child and youth, regardless of era and social conditions. Economic crises have been found to have a particularly negative effect on those families whose situation was already difficult before the crisis. Children’s perspectives on poverty and disadvantage are important and worth studying, both in themselves and because of their consequences extending into adulthood. The project emphasizes a new way of seeing and looking that respects poor children’s own experiences and own agency.

https://sites.utu.fi/lapko/

Whose City is a three-year project started in 2021 and funded by the Kone Foundation. We study the history, present day and future of Finnish cities from the perspective of equality and justice, using the methods of historical research and art. We focus especially on the period of drastic change that took place in Finnish cities in the 1960s and 1970s and the related discussions around urban space and equality. Many of the developments that started during this period still influence the urban environments today. The project group is made up by the comic artist Tiitu Takalo and historians Ainur Elmgren, Tiina Männistö-Funk and Hanna Tyvelä.

The project, funded by Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland 2022–2025, approaches the writing skills of 19th-century Finns from the perspective of crime and examines the situations in which people were convicted of forgery. Through cases of forgery the project opens up the social history of Finnish society in the early 19th century, and especially the everyday life of the working -class and low-income part of society. The project brings up, on the one hand, the expanding literacy of Finnish society, and on the other hand, the authorities’ growing need to control the movements and work of especially the low-income part of the population. People needed written certificates of their status and work, proving where they came from and where they were going, and whether they were reputable workers.

https://sites.utu.fi/forfalskarna/

Funded by the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland (2024–2027)
PI: Professor Charlotta Wolff (Finnish history, UTU)

The project Opera in the periphery? Åbo and Paris as musical and theatrical capitals, 1790–1840 studies the cultural interaction between Åbo (Turku) and Paris and how urban musical and theatrical life contributed to the birth of the public sphere and and of civic ideals. More specifically, focus is laid on French comic opera (opéra-comique), a genre that dealt with social and political issues in the spirit of enlightened discussion. The project employs four reserchers and produces significant new knowledge on the early stages of Finnish music and theatre history.

Contact: https://www.utu.fi/en/people/charlotta-wolff
Website: https://sites.utu.fi/opera/en/

The three-year research project "An alternative path to a better future: the natural way of life in Finland from the second half of the 19th century to the present day", funded by the Kone Foundation, has started in the autumn of 2023. The project will examine why the natural way of life has appeared to certain groups of people as a solution to the social problems of the time: initially to the upheavals caused by industrialisation and urbanisation, in the 1960s and 1970s to environmental pollution, and today to the crisis of ecological sustainability. The answer is not to be found solely in the opposition between nature and culture, since the natural way of life has never been about a return to 'wild' nature, but about the cultural meanings given to nature. The project analyses, for example, perceptions of nature as a source of health and ethics, and problematises the relationship of naturalness to key features of modernisation such as science, technology or capitalist profit-making. The study shows how, in the shadow of the modernisation process that has led to the ecological sustainability crisis, there has been an alternative approach to a better future based on the idea of a natural way of life.

For more information, please contact Suvi Rytty

Funded by TEKES (2013–2014)
PI: Senior Research Fellow Teijo Lehtonen (Department of Future Technologies, University of Turku)

Futuristic History was a two-year joint research project conducted by the Department of Future Technologies (University of Turku) and the Department of Finnish History (University of Turku). The goal of the project was to develop augmented reality-based solutions and business models for tourism and culture. The project resulted in several technological demonstrations that pre-sented historical locations and events in new and innovative ways.

The applications developed during the project:

• Holy Ghost Church – A mobile application that allowed users to go on a virtual tour of an ancient church in Turku that was destroyed in a fire in 1593.
• Luostarinmäki Adventure – A tablet application that used augmented reality to allow users to see what life was like in the 1850s.
• Louhisaari Stories – An augmented real-ity application that allowed user to experience five virtual stories from the 19th century at Louhisaari Manor in Askainen.

Selected publications:

• L. Viinikkala, O-P. Leskinen, O. Heimo, T. Korkalainen, T. Mäkilä, S. Helle, V. Pönni, J-P. Arimaa, F. Saukko, J. Pääkylä, S. Jokela, and T. Lehtonen. The Luostarinmäki Adventure – An Augmented Reality Game in an Open-Air Museum. NODEM 2014 – Engaging Spaces – Interpretation, Design and Digital Strategies 2014.
• K. Uotila, A. Vilkuna, I. Huvila, L. Viinikkala and H. Bäfner. Augmented reality and post medieval church – ruins of Holy Ghost Church in Turku. Conference on Church Archaeol-ogy in the Baltic Sea Region 2013.  

Funded by TEKES (2015–2016)
PI: Senior Research Fellow Teijo Lehtonen (Department of Future Technologies, University of Turku)

MIRACLE was a two-year joint research project that involved the Department of Future Tech-nologies (University of Turku), the Department of Finnish History (University of Turku), the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, ICT – Digital Systems and Services, School of Information Sciences (University of Tampere), and the Department of Teacher Education (University of Helsinki).  In addition, the project included a number of partners from public organisations and private enterprises.

The goal of the project was to combine multidisciplinary teams with local business partners to discover cost-efficient methods for creating mixed reality applications that could be used in museums, cultural tourism and out-of-classroom learning.

Examples:

• The transformation of the Knight’s Hall in Häme Castle – A museum guide that used augmented reality to describe the changes that have occurred in one of the castle’s halls during the past centuries.
• The Wordsmith in Turku Cathedral – An application that used augmented reality to describe the changes in local life after the Protestant Reformation in 16th-century Finland.

Selected publications:

• Olli I. Heimo, Kai K. Kimppa, Laura Yli-Seppälä, Lauri Viinikkala, Timo Korkalainen, Tuomas Mäkilä and Teijo Lehtonen. Ethical Problems in Creating Historically Accurate Mixed Reality Make-beliefs, CEPE/ETHICOMP 2017 – Values in Emerging Science and Technology, 5–8 June 2017.
• Lauri Viinikkala. Digital but Authentic? Defining the Authenticity of Two Church Interiors Reconstructed with Mixed Reality Technology. Finskt museum 12/2016.
• Lauri Viinikkala. Yhdistetty todellisuus ja menneisyyden esittäminen. Narratiivin ja historiallisen tiedon suhde Louhisaaren tarinat -sovelluksessa. Teoksessa Digitaalinen humanismi ja historiatieteet. Kimmo Elo (Toim). Historia Mirabilis 12, Turun Historiallinen Yhdistys: Turku, 2016.

Funded by the Emil Aaltonen Foundation (2013–2015)
PI: Docent Anu Lahtinen (Finnish history, University of Turku)

The project focused on gender and family relations in Finland from the Middle Ages to the modern period. The aim of the project was to study the changes and continuity in family relations from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. Special attention was paid to the role of gender hierarchies in family relations.

One of the starting points of the project was to analyse the slowly changing legal, social, and cultural conditions that had an influence on the economic, social, and emotional interdependency between family members. The project also strived to highlight the various forms that family life could take at any given time period, and the project aimed to challenge the simplistic ideas of the “traditional” Finnish family.

Comparing the conditions between townships and the countryside was an important focus area for the project. In Finland, life in towns differed from life in the countryside when it came to gen-dered divisions in work, inheritance, marriage patterns, and the transference of wealth from one generation to the next. In their upcoming articles, the members of the project will discuss the con-sequences of this legal and economic framework for family relations.

For more information, please see the project’s website.

Funded by the Academy of Finland (2011–2014)
PI: Professor Jarna Heinonen (Turku School Economics, University of Turku)

Gender and Growth in Family Firms was an international research project that took a multidisci-plinary approach to analysing gender and growth in a family business context. The uniqueness of the project was in its focus on the elements of time and place in understanding gender and growth.

The project’s main objective was to construct contemporary and historical life stories for the family firms that were selected and to analyse and compare these with one another to gain new in-sights on growth and gender in family firms. By combining historical and contemporary perspec-tives, the project created a new understanding of today’s topical social phenomena.

The leader of the project was Professor of Entrepreneurship Jarna Heinonen (Turku School of Economics, University of Turku). The other members of the project were researchers Ulla Hytti (Turku School of Economics ) and Pekka Stenholm (Turku School of Economics ), Professor of Finnish History Kirsi Vainio-Korhonen (University of Turku), and doctoral candidates Ulla Ijäs and Jarkko Keskinen from the Department of Finnish History.

Selected publications

• Jarna Heinonen & Kirsi Vainio-Korhonen (Eds.), Women in Business Families: From past to present. Routledge: New York & London, 2018.
• Veli Pekka Toropainen, Päättäväiset porvarskat. Turun johtavan porvariston naisten toimijuus vuosina 1623–1670. Annales Universitatis Turkuensis C 419. University of Turku, 2016.
• Ulla Ijäs. Talo, kartano, puutarha. Kauppahuoneen omistaja Marie Hackman ja hänen kulutusvalintansa varhaismodernissa Viipurissa. Annales Universitatis Turkuensis C 402. University of Turku, 2015.
• Jarkko Keskinen, Oma ja yhteinen etu. Kauppiaiden keskinäinen kilpailu ja yhteistyö Porin paikallisyhteisössä 1765–1845. Annales Universitatis Turkuensis C345. University of Turku, 2012).

Funded by the Academy of Finland (?)
PI: Professor Kirsi Vainio-Korhonen (Finnish history, University of Turku)

This four-year research project examined everyday power relations that often remain unheeded in historical research. The goal of the project was to analyse power and different power-wielding processes and relationships from a new historical perspective. Instead of focusing on official power structures and organisations, the project’s main goal was to study unofficial and invisible power – the choices that people make in everyday life.

Selected publications:

• Ulla Ijäs. Talo, kartano, puutarha. Kauppahuoneen omistaja Marie Hackman ja hänen ku-lutusvalintansa varhaismodernissa Viipurissa. Annales Universitatis Turkuensis C 402. University of Turku, 2015.
• Outi Hupaniittu: Biografiliiketoiminnan valtakausi. Toimijuus ja kilpailu suomalaisella elokuva-alalla 1900–1920-luvuilla. Scripta Lingua Fennica Edita 367; Arkistolaitoksen julkaisuja 16. University of Turku & National Archives Service of Finland, 2013.

Funded by the Academy of Finland (2008–2010)
PI: Docent Tapani Paavonen (contemporary history, University of Turku)

This four-year research project was part of “Power in Finland”, a national research programme that was funded by the Academy of Finland. The project dealt with the relationship between com-petition and regulation in different time periods. The project approached the concept of “power” through the impact that the exercise of power had on the realisation of divergent social interests between the interwar period and the 1950s and in the establishment of the characteristics of the Finnish welfare state.

The project’s research results emphasise the great change in principle that was included in the policy of removing the barriers to competition, introduced in the late 1950s in the wake of other Western countries, even though this principle was not fully materialised until Finland’s EU mem-bership. The studies within the project confirmed and complemented earlier historical studies that have found that the Finnish economy was traditionally characterised by its high rate of monopo-lism, particularly by cartels, while a study of the 1940s and 1950s revealed that, during the same time period, the leaders of the Finnish economy maintained a discourse on competition that was in flagrant contradiction with established practices.

Project members: Mika Kallioinen, Jarkko Keskinen, Liisa Lähteenmäki and Kari Teräs.

Selected publications:

• Petteri Pietikäinen (ed.). Valta Suomessa. Gaudeamus: Helsinki, 2010.
• Kallioinen M, Keskinen J, Lähteenmäki L, Paavonen T, Teräs K. Kilpailun kieli - Suomalaiset kartellit sotien välisenä aikana. Ojala, Jari ; Eloranta, Jari ; Roiko-Jokela, Heikki (Toim.): Monelta kantilta : Ilkka Nummelalle omistettu juhlakirja. Jyväskylän yliopisto, historian ja etnologian laitos 2010.
• Kari Teräs. Yritys ja yhteiskunta. Heikki Huhtamäen verkosto- ja sidosryhmäsuhteet. SKS: Helsinki, 2009.

Funded by the Academy of Finland and Business Finland (2004–2007)
PI: Professor Kirsi Vainio-Korhonen (Department of Finnish, University of Turku)

This four-year research project was part of a national research programme that examined the role that social capital played in the creation of cooperation and regulation of competition. The project examined how companies and entrepreneurs both limited and controlled mutual and external competition and shared markets by forming informal and formal cooperative networks and cooperative network organisations.

Selected publications

• Jarkko Keskinen & Kari Teräs (toim.). Luottamus, sosiaalinen pääoma, historia. Historia Mirabilis 5. Turun Historiallinen Yhdistys: Turku, 2008.
• Martti Vihanto (toim.) Instituutiotaloustieteen nykyisiä suuntia. Turun korkeakoulujen yhteiskunnallis-taloudellinen tutkimusyhdistys ry: Turku, 2005.

This project analyses the criticism of biomedicine related to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and vaccine-criticism in Finland. We combine sociological and historical perspectives, responding to the social and political need to understand these phenomena and the criticism of biomedical expertise in general as processes that are deeply historical and cultural. The project is led by Dr.Soc.Sci. Johanna Nurmi and Dr.Soc.Sci. Pia Vuolanto. Project members are MA Suvi Rytty and M.HealthSc. Tiina Väänänen. The project is located at the Department of Social Research, University of Turku, and is funded by Emil Aaltonen Foundation (2018–2020).

Contact person: Johanna Nurmi

> Website

This research project focuses on the relationships between history and cultural heritage and the use of power and networks of the persons involved. The project’s key concepts networks of power, and sites of memory.

The objective of the project is to study the actors in the archiving sector, to look at their choices from the 19th century to the present. The major challenge that the project seeks to address is to explain the contradictions between different interpretations. The aims of the project can be crystallised with the following questions:

• Whose history was and is worth recording?
• How and with what criteria have the recorded materials been chosen then and now?
• Whose materials or phenomena have been or will be ignored or forgotten?
• How have the materials been made available to scholars and researchers?

Funding: The project is funded by the Academy of Finland. We work together with the Finnish Literature Society and the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland.

Contact person: Kirsi Vainio-Korhonen

> Website

The “Agents of Enlightenment. Changing the Minds in Eighteenth-Century Northern Europe” project examines how evidence-based knowledge and radical philosophy affected identities, representations and practices at an individual and local level in the Baltic area between 1740 and 1810. By emphasising the individuals and practices behind intellectual change, the project goes beyond the traditional scholarly debates on the essence of the Northern European Enlightenment. The project combines the issues and methods of intellectual history with those of social and cultural history. The research is carried out in the form of three case studies that analyse the readings, personal writings, networks and intellectual activities of medical doctors, diplomats and government officials. The project is relevant not only to intellectual and cultural historians, but also in a larger perspective. It serves as a reminder of the immediate and concrete consequences of knowledge or its absence, and of its use or misuse.

Funding: Academy of Finland

Contact: PI Charlotta Wolff

> Web page

Funding: Turku urban research programme and Svenska Kulturfonden (2019–2020)
PI: Prof. Charlotta Wolff (Finnish history, UTU), Prof. Johanna Ilmakunnas (Nordic history, ÅAU)

The project studies Åbo as one of the central academic and administrative centres of the Swedish realm from the foundation of the university in 1640 until its transfer to Helsinki 1828. The aim is to provide new knowledge on the importance of Åbo within the Swedish realm and for its learned elite, as well as to demonstrate how the human and cultural interaction between Åbo and another university town, Uppsala, was manifested in daily life. We answer these research questions by analysing the contacts, networks and intellectual interactions of students, teachers and alumni of the university at Åbo, around Åbo and between Åbo and Uppsala, and by studying the flux of capitals and material culture prompted by mobility and interaction.

The project relates to recent research combining urban and cultural history with cultural geography, the history of knowledge, mobility and science, biographic and prosopographic research, and social networks analysis at macro and micro levels. The project is a consortium between the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University.

Contact: https://www.utu.fi/en/people/charlotta-wolff

Website: https://sites.utu.fi/tie-meren-yli/sv/